From the earliest days of academic popular music studies, concepts of labour have been of paramount importance both for their intellectual richness and for their ability to link academic practices with broader patterns of social and political action. More recently, the increasing pace of globalization and digital networking have profoundly altered the nature of musical labour, making it crucial to think about how existing ideas may continue to be of use, how they may need to be changed, and what new concepts might be needed to address similar questions in these new contexts. In addition, the recent global economic downturn gives issues concerning music and labour a new urgency, impacting both production and consumption in myriad ways.

The site of this conference, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, resonates both with the history of labour in Canada and with the contemporary transformation and reinvention of those urban spaces which originally developed around heavy industry. These broad social histories, along with the gritty, steeltown reputation of “the Hammer” (as it is sometimes called by locals), intersect with several vibrant strands of popular music history and culture in Hamilton: the blues, punk, and indie scenes that have developed in the city, institutions like Grant Avenue Studios (started by Daniel and Bob Lanois and Bob Doige) and Sonic Unyon Records, the routes traveled by touring musicians, and recent arts-centred efforts of urban renewal.

While proposals on any topic relating to popular music are welcome, the conference organizers especially invite proposals for individual presentations, panels, workshops or performances on topics related to the theme of the conference, including, but not limited to, the following:

Popular music’s place in the politics and policy of the labour movement

The role of the popular music industry in shaping musical labor

How understandings of popular music making as work are affected by ideologies of race, gender, class, sexuality, age, (dis)ability, etc.

The impact of digitization and networking on the nature of popular music and musical labour

Copyright, commodification, and musical labor

Popular music in the workplace

The labour of popular musical scholarship

Musicking as embodied labour, including reproductive labour

Theoretical and activist perspectives on the changing nature of musical labour and its social, economic, and political situation

Proposals for single papers, workshops, performances or other forms of presentation may be submitted. Abstracts for individual papers, roundtables, and workshops should be no longer than 300 words; proposals for panels should include an abstract for the panel as a whole (300 words max.) as well as an individual abstract for each paper proposed for the panel (300 words max.). It is possible that the program committee may accept a panel but reject an individual paper on that panel.

The local organizers will be applying to SSHRC for conference funding. SSHRC requires the following information from each presenter. Please submit this, along with your 300-word abstract, in a single Word document (use your last name as the document’s file name–e.g., “Hendrix.doc” NOT “CIASPM abstract.doc”). Please do not submit your proposal as a PDF file.

Status as a student or nonstudent
Family Name
Given Name
Initials
Organization (i.e., university)
Department/Division
Country
List degrees, specifying the discipline, starting with the most recent.
List recent positions and those relevant to the event. Start with the most recent.
List recent publications and those relevant to the event. Start with the most recent.
150 char title of proposed presentation.
100-150 abstract of proposed presentation.

Please submit your abstract in French or English, depending on the language in which the paper will be presented by 31 October 2012 to william_echard@carleton.ca

Papers will be limited to a standard 20-minute length followed by 10 minutes of questions, whereas other presentations will be limited to 60 minutes. All participants must be members of IASPM-Canada or provide proof of membership in another IASPM national chapter. Membership information is available on the following website: http://iaspm.ca/membership/

For questions about the conference, contact program chair, William Echard (william_echard@carleton.ca), or local arrangements co-chairs, Christina Baade (baadec@mcmaster.ca) and Susan Fast (fastfs@mcmaster.ca).

Submission deadlines:

31 October 2012
Applicants will be notified of the program committee’s final decisions by 1 January 2013.